Deepika Pandey

Deepika Pandey joined Walgreen in December 2008 as director of online strategy at the 111-year-old, $70 billion company — a big job in itself.

Just three months later, her role expanded to include totally redesigning Walgreens.com and managing the 150-person customer experience team.

Over the next four years, Ms. Pandey — an alum of McKinsey & Co., the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — moved Walgreen's Web presence from ho-hum to best-in-class.

It's an effort that's critical to Walgreen as the company tries to move beyond its pharmacy role to become a wider health and wellness resource. As people increasingly go online to schedule flu shots and reorder prescriptions, Walgreen has had to dramatically expand its online presence and create a digital level of efficiency and trust that matches the in-store experience.

"Deepika is one of those rare individuals who is both strongly analytical and exceptionally creative," says Sona Chawla, Walgreen's president of e-commerce. "Through the combination of these skills, she has helped us build world-class digital experiences."

Joining Walgreen just as it embarked on a major digital makeover has meant intense work over the past four years but also immense rewards.

"I've succeeded because I've always been willing to jump in and take on a challenge regardless of whether or not I have prior experience," she says. "It keeps things exciting."